weswelker#83
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2007
- Messages
- 4,528
- Reaction score
- 4
Registered Members experience this forum ad and noise-free.
CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.OK, so you borrowed the headline from the article you linked to to title your post, but in fact it's not very accurate per the research cited. The gist of what I read is not that belief in God makes you stupid, but rather it's stupidity that makes you believe in God. Not that this makes much difference.
OK, so you borrowed the headline from the article you linked to to title your post, but in fact it's not very accurate per the research cited. The gist of what I read is not that belief in God makes you stupid, but rather it's stupidity that makes you believe in God. Not that this makes much difference.
I think he was joking. But I'd put it like this: Having a lower IQ makes it easier to believe in god.
I don't believe in "god" but I know a lot of really smart people who do and a lot of really stupid people who don't. So I'm not sure what you were trying to say, Wildo...beyond just taking a cheap shot at people who believe, I mean.
That really has nothing to do with what I said. A lower IQ person is more likely to believe in god. That's a statistical correlation, not a causation. The smartest man in the world could believe in god and that statement would still be true. But, if you have a lower IQ, you are more likely to believe in god than someone with a higher IQ. That is all it means, there's nothing else to read into it. And it's not a "cheap shot," it's the logical conclusion of the results of the study, sorry if you don't like it.
That really has nothing to do with what I said. A lower IQ person is more likely to believe in god. That's a statistical correlation, not a causation. The smartest man in the world could believe in god and that statement would still be true. But, if you have a lower IQ, you are more likely to believe in god than someone with a higher IQ. That is all it means, there's nothing else to read into it. And it's not a "cheap shot," it's the logical conclusion of the results of the study, sorry if you don't like it.
Yeah, that nails it.I think he was joking. But I'd put it like this: Having a lower IQ makes it easier to believe in god.
Didn't read the study, just answering your post which I thought could stand on it's own.
You never said "according to the study" you just stated flatly that unintelligent people (like Carl Sagan, right?) find it easier to believe in god.
I just sum it up like this. To the person who says God doesnt exist:
Prove it.
while we have disagreements over the last part, I appreciate what you have said in this post.The persistent error in the usual tit-for-tat over religion is the notion that the question must be settled -- which all parties readily admit will never happen (certainly not by the efforts of homo sapiens alone.)
It is only possible to prove the existence of God to the believer, and as Wildo has identified, the burden of proof in such exercise is on the one who posits the thesis (in this case, of God's existence.)
But as Lifer has also identified, although it amounts to a challenge to prove a negative (a notoriously difficult if not impossible task,) nobody has conclusively proven God's nonexistence. In fact, in the Allmighty's particular case, one can only disprove an attribute, after which the attribute can be reinterpreted. So we would have to not only prove a negative, we would have to do it while aiming at a moving target.
This is not to argue one side or the other; it is simply to state that the "argument" we're talking about isn't in the realm of argument. It is in the realm of personal reflection.
There is a difference between saying "it can not be proven," and saying "you should not believe it."
An intelligent and intellectually honest man can easily say to himself, "I have neither proof nor disproof; I am therefore free to believe or disbelieve without being a bonehead."
That is not the same thing as saying that his internal reasons to believe are valid once they enter the realm of shared discourse.
This is why I find aggressive proselytizing to be akin to salesmanship, whereas I have the greatest respect for those who search for their own "salvation" or understanding of the spiritual.
while we have disagreements over the last part, I appreciate what you have said in this post.
Threads like these, debating if its basically stupid to believe in God or stupid not to, are not very constrictive to thoughtful and meaningful discussion on these matters.
I don't think anyone is stupid simply because they believe in god. I think they are mistaken.
you said this in an earlier post
"Having a lower IQ makes it easier to believe in god."
I respect a comment like, "I think they are mistaken"
the IQ comment, on the other hand, makes it sure sound you are question the intelligence of believers.
But i am willing to take you on your word that you are not saying that.
einstein was jewish
einstein was mega clever
I received your letter of June 10th. I have never talked to a Jesuit priest in my life and I am astonished by the audacity to tell such lies about me. From the viewpoint of a Jesuit priest I am, of course, and have always been an atheist.
- Albert Einstein, letter to Guy H. Raner Jr, July 2, 1945, responding to a rumor that a Jesuit priest had caused Einstein to convert from atheism; quoted by Michael R. Gilmore in Skeptic, Vol. 5, No. 2